Why We Need a Subscription Model for E-Books

Brett Sandusky at Digital Book World has an interesting write-up on digital subscriptions. He ruminates on the pros and cons of two different models: the ‘modular’ subscription, where customers subscribe to one thing at a time, as they wish, versus the bundle model, where customers pay a fixed amount for a package deal which includes the content they want, plus other stuff which they may or may not want (for instance, when you purchase phone service just to get a cheaper deal on the Internet and cable).

Sandusky prefers the ‘modular’ model. He aims to treat his customers like grown-ups who know what they want and can choose to purchase it. But I think he is missing a counter-argument here. There is something to be said for bundling of a certain nature—not necessarily the ‘you must purchase a landline just to get cable’ type, but the all-you-can-eat approach of services such as Rhapsody or Netflix. One of the things I like about Netflix (which is a streaming-only service here in Canada) is that once I’m in, I’m in. I can watch whatever I want to. There is no nickel-and-diming like there is with the iTunes rental service.

We can access both Netflix and iTunes off our Apple TV box in my house, and a few times, we’ve wandered over to the iTunes area to check out the new releases. If we wanted one, one click could get us the movie on the spot. But there would be a corresponding charge to my credit card that, while small, is still a charge. So invariably, we say, “Maybe, but let’s see what’s on Netflix first,” and then once we hit Netflix (which has already been paid for with one simple monthly charge), we find something and watch it there.

Contrast that with magazines. I used to be a Zinio customer (before their app got so annoying that I stopped), and I had to pay for each subscription individually. A modular model, as Sandusky calls it. Now that my subscriptions are all running out, I keep getting renewal reminders. It’s $11 here, $9 there … and I can afford it, but I just don’t want to. If Zinio came in with some sort of Netflix-esque buffet model, I might be more inclined to give it another go. I could pop in every month, download a magazine or two, and enjoy. No pestery renewal notices, no keeping track of what expires when. Some months, I may read ten magazines. Some months, I may read only two or three. Wouldn’t it be nice?

Or take Sirius Radio as another example. I remember spending years collecting individual CDs, and then ripping them to iTunes years later, sorting them, organizing them and so on. But I only listened to a tiny fraction of the music that was out there because if it wasn’t in my limited little collection, I couldn’t access it. The Beloved just got a new car with Sirius radio in it, and it’s a much better system. All the songs he wants, plenty to choose from, and a monthly fee that’s reasonable enough he doesn’t mind it much. Artists he or I would never otherwise listen to are now getting a share of our entertainment pie—we might not have bought a whole CD from them, but a little slice of the Sirius financial pie, to which we now contribute, goes to their benefit. Why would that be a bad thing?

I am frankly surprised none of the publishers have tried something like this yet. I think it could be profitable. This is how gyms work, isn’t it? A tiny fraction goes every day and uses the facility to its fullest and becomes a loyal gym-goer. But then the great unwashed masses pay their fee and only come a few times, and they subsidize the whole business for everybody else. So if you could get some OverDrive-esque platform going that worked on every device, and you priced it low enough so that every e-book buyer would sign up, you’d get a tiny fraction of heavy readers who would read a a lot, and a vast majority who are happy to pay their small monthly fee and download only a few. They would subsidize the whole business for everybody else. And the profit pie would be huge because you’d have so many customers.

6 Comments on Why We Need a Subscription Model for E-Books

I think that the current cost per hour of entertainment for ebooks is too low for a subscription model to work. It works for Netflix because the cost of buying the individual shows or movies you would watch would be fairly expensive relative to the time you would get from it. On Amazon Instant, you can buy movies for around $10, so it works out to $5/hour on average. Most ebooks run around $8 and provide at least 6 hours of reading, reducing the cost to $1.33/hour. For an $8, Netflix-style subscription, a reader would have to read a lot more books to get the same value out of not owning their entertainment.

VigRoco has a good point. On the other hand, I’m a major fan of subscription services and subscribe to a variety of services – from radio to magazines to fitness websites to movie streaming sites. I really love the flexibility have having a wide variety of options available on demand, which is why the bundle-subscription model appeals to me. Would definitely consider such an ebook service if one came along.

I agree with Joanna’s post. The Zinio experience would be vastly more enjoyable if you could sign up for a buffet, say, for $ 29.95 a month or something similar. There are months when I read everything, but there are also months when I would rather just read one or two mags.

As I see it, the problem with subscriptions is that it would put you into a scheme and the scheme would drive your book selection. Suppose there were a subscription service with lots of vampire and fantasy books, but not so much hard science fiction or biography. I might be tempted to get an available book over the one I really wanted that wasn’t there.

In short, I would prefer to pick my own choices rather than let available of a subscription decide. Of course, I could subscribe and buy outside the service, but at some point the service becomes moot. For example, I only used the Amazon Prime Lending library three or four times last year because that’s all I wanted, but some people will have a book each month because it’s there.

I live in Germany, I like to read books and I have an iPad. Fortunately for me there’s a service for that in Germany called Skoobe http://www.skoobe.de It’s just like spotify or netflix for books. Love it! It’s 10-15€ a month. It’s worthwhile the money for anyone who reads more than 1.0 books a month. I haven’t sined up for Spotify Premium yet but I will also do that very soon. Digital-media really is best served as subscription – no stress, just fun.

I agree with Joana..I´m a Calculus teacher fom Spain and my students use INGEBOOK, (www.ingebook.com), an online ebook platform for science, engineering and architecture students. It has book suscriptions for around 0.95 / month, and a flat rate suscription from 20 euros/month
with more than 300 books, (plus the ones to come during the subscription period) ,something great as the book selection is not enclosed.

Personally, i find it very useful in order to prepare my lessons and exams since they offer a flat rate suscription to sections/ subjects as well. In my case , i´m subscribed to Mathemathics section with full accesibilty and more than 100 practice and theory books for 10 euros/month or 50euros/year.

Recent Comments

Anne { @David- I think freedictionary.com needs to add something along the lines of "as long as the specs don't allow for the addition of a variety... } – Aug 02, 1:56 PM

David Rothman { I'll go with this definition of "standard" from thefreedictionary.com: "A set of specifications that are adopted within an industry to allow compatibility between products." Thanks,... } – Aug 01, 11:25 PM

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